The South Side is a region of the city of Chicago. It is the largest in area of the three Sides of the city that radiate from downtown — the others Sides being the North Side and the West Side. While there is no side of the city named the East Side — because Lake Michigan runs along the city's eastern border — there is an East Sidecommunity area but that is part of the South Side, located on the far southeastern section of the city. The South Side is sometimes referred to as South Chicago.

The South Side boasts a broad array of cultural and social offerings, such as professional sports teams, landmark buildings, museums, educational institutions, medical institutions, beaches, and major parts of Chicago's parks system. The South Side is served by numerous bus and 'L' trains via the Chicago Transit Authority and several Metra rail commuter lines.[12] It has several interstate and national highways.[13]

There is some debate as to the South Side's boundaries. The city's address numbering system uses a grid demarcating Madison Street as the East-West axis and State Street as the North-South axis. Madison is in the middle of the Loop.[14] As a result, much of the downtown "Loop" district is south of Madison Street, but the Loop is excluded from the definition of the South Side.[3][6][15]

One definition has the South Side beginning at Roosevelt Road (formerly 12th Street), at the Loop's southern boundary, with the community area known as the Near South Side immediately adjacent. Another definition, taking into account that much of the Near South Side is in effect part of the commercial district extending in an unbroken line from the South Loop, locates the boundary immediately south of 18th Street or Cermak Road (22nd Street), where Chinatown in the Armour Square district begins.[4]

A typical Chicago Bungalow, examples of which are found in abundance on the South Side.

Lake Michigan and the Indiana state line provide eastern boundaries. The southern border changed over time because of Chicago's evolving city limits; the city limits are now at 138th Street (in Riverdale and Hegewisch).[16] The South Side is larger in area than the North and West Sides combined.

The exact boundaries dividing the Southwest, South, and Southeast Sides vary by source.[15] If primarily racial lines are followed, the South Side can be divided into a White and Hispanic Southwest Side, a largely Black South Side and a smaller, more racially diverse Southeast Side centered on the East Side (#52) community area and including the adjacent community areas of South Chicago (#46), South Deering (#51) and Hegewisch (#55).[17]

The differing interpretations of the boundary between the South and Southwest Sides are due to a lack of a definite natural or artificial boundary.[15] One source states that the boundary is Western Avenue or the railroad tracks adjacent to Western Avenue.[6] This border extends further south to a former railroad right of way paralleling Beverly Avenue and then Interstate 57.

The Southwest Side of Chicago is a subsection of the South Side comprising mainly white, black, and Hispanic neighborhoods, usually dominated by one of these races. On the Southwest Side exclusively, the northern portion has a high concentration of Hispanics, the western portion has a high concentration of whites, and the eastern portion has a high concentration of blacks. Architecturally, the Southwest Side is distinguished by the tract of Chicago's Bungalow Belt, which runs through it.[18]

Midway Airport serves the South Side with connections to the nation and the world.

The Illinois Constitution gave rise to townships that provided municipal services in 1850. Several settlements surrounding Chicago incorporated as townships to better serve their residents. Growth and prosperity overburdened many local government systems. In 1889, most of these townships determined that they would be better off as part of a larger city of Chicago. Lake View, Jefferson, Lake, Hyde Park Townships and the Austin portion of Cicero voted to be annexed by the city in the June 29, 1889 elections.[1][21][22]

After the Civil War freed millions of slaves, during Reconstruction black southerners migrated to Chicago and caused the black population to nearly quadruple from 4,000 to 15,000 between 1870 and 1890.[23]

In the 20th century, the numbers expanded with the Great Migration, as blacks left the agrarian South seeking a better future in the industrial North, including the South Side. By 1910 the black population in Chicago reached 40,000, with 78% residing in the Black Belt.[23][24] Extending 30 blocks, mostly between 31st and 55th Streets,[25] along State Street, but only a few blocks wide,[23] it developed into a vibrant community dominated by black businesses, music, food and culture.[24] As more blacks moved into the South Side, descendants of earlier immigrants, such as ethnic Irish, began to move out. Later housing pressures and civic unrest caused more whites to leave the area and the city. Older residents of means moved to newer suburban housing as new migrants entered the city,[26][27] driving further demographic changes.

The intersection of East 35th and South Giles Avenue, 1973. Photo by John H. White.

The South Side was racially segregated for many decades. During the 1920s and 1930s, housing cases on the South Side such as Hansberry v. Lee, 311U.S.32 (1940), went to the U. S. Supreme Court.[28] The case, which reset the limitations of res judicata, successfully challenged racial restrictions in the Washington Park Subdivision by reopening them for legal argument.[28] Blacks resided in Bronzeville (around 35th and State Streets) in an area called "the Black Belt". After World War II, blacks spread across the South Side; its center, east, and western portions. The Black Belt arose from discriminatory real estate practices by whites against blacks and other racial groups.[20]

In the early 1960s,[29] during the tenure of then Mayor Richard J. Daley, the construction of the Dan Ryan Expressway created controversy. Many perceived the highway's location as an intentional physical barrier between white and black neighborhoods,[30] particularly as the Dan Ryan divided Daley's own neighborhood, the traditionally Irish Bridgeport, from Bronzeville.[31]

The economic conditions that led to migration into the South Side were not sustained. Mid-century industrial restructuring in meat packing and the steel industry cost many jobs. Blacks who became educated and achieved middle-class jobs also left after the Civil Rights Movement to other parts of the city.

Street gangs have been prominent in some South Side neighborhoods for over a century, beginning with those of Irish immigrants, who established the first territories in a struggle against other European and black migrants. Some other neighborhoods stayed relatively safe for a big city. By the 1960s, gangs such as the Vice Lords began to improve their public image, shifting from criminal ventures to operating social programs funded by government and private grants. However, in the 1970s gangs returned to violence and the drug trade. By 2000, traditionally all-male gangs crossed gender lines to include about 20% females.[32]

The United States Congress passed the Housing Act of 1949 to fund public housing to improve housing for the disadvantaged. CHA produced a plan of citywide projects, which was rejected by some of the Chicago City Council's white aldermen who opposed public housing in their wards. This led to a CHA policy of construction of family housing in black residential areas, concentrated on the South and West Sides.[37]

Gentrification of parts of the Douglas community area has bolstered the Black Metropolis-Bronzeville District.[38] Gentrification in various parts of the South Side has displaced many black citizens.[39] The South Side offers numerous housing cooperatives. Hyde Park has several middle-income co-ops and other South Side regions have limited equity (subsidized, price-controlled) co-ops.[40] These regions experienced condominium construction and conversion in the 1970s and 1980s.[40]

In the late 20th century the South Side had among the poorest housing conditions in the U.S., but the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) began replacing the old high-rise public housing with mixed-income, lower-density developments, part of the city's Plan for Transformation.[41] Many of the CHA's massive public housing projects, which lined several miles of South State Street, have been demolished. Among the largest were the Robert Taylor Homes.[42]

The University of Chicago is one of the world's top universities, with 22 Nobel Prize winners working at the university at the time of the award announcement, placing it 3rd among U.S. institutions (behind Harvard and Stanford.)[45] At Chicago Pile-1 at the university, the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was achieved under the direction of Enrico Fermi in the 1940s.[46]

The South Side has been a place of political controversy. Although the locations of some of these notable controversies have not become official landmarks, they remain important parts of Chicago history. The Chicago Race Riot of 1919 was the worst of the approximately 25 riots during the Red Summer of 1919 and required 6,000 National Guard troops.[70] As mentioned above, segregation has been a political theme of controversy for some time on the South Side as exhibited by Hansberry v. Lee, 311U.S.32 (1940).[71]

President Obama announced in 2015 that the Barack Obama Presidential Center would be built adjacent the University of Chicago campus.[72][73] Both Washington Park and Jackson Park were considered and it was announced in July 2016 that it would be built in Jackson Park.[74]

Vee-Jay, the largest black-owned label before Motown Records, was among the post-World War II companies that formed "Record Row" on Cottage Grove between 47th and 50th Streets. In the 1960s, it was located along South Michigan Avenue.[81][82]Rhythm and blues continued to thrive after Record Row became the hub of gospelized rhythm and blues, known as soul. Chicago continues as a prominent musical city.[82]

The Chicago Park District boasts 7,300 acres (30 km2) of parkland, 552 parks, thirty-three beaches, nine museums, two world-class conservatories, sixteen historic lagoons and ten bird/wildlife gardens.[89] Many of these are on the South Side, including several large parks that are part of the legacy of Paul Cornell's service on the South Parks Commission. He was also the father of Hyde Park.

Beginning in 1905, the White City Amusement Park, located on 63rd Street provided a recreational area to the citizens of the area.[103][104] Until the early 1920s, a dirigible service ran from the park, which was also where Goodyear Blimps were first produced, to Grant Park. This service was discontinued after the Wingfoot Air Express Crash.[105] A fire destroyed much of the park in the late 1920s and more was torn down in the 1930s. The park filed for bankruptcy in 1933 and 1943. Despite attempts to resurrect the park in 1936 and 1939, by 1946 all the remaining equipment was auctioned off.[106]

The South Side played a prominent role in Chicago's bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics. The Olympic Village was planned in the Douglas (#35) community area across Lake Shore Drive from Burnham Park.[117] In addition, the Olympic Stadium was expected to be located in the Chicago Park District's Washington Park located in the Washington Park (#40) community area.[118] Many Olympic events were planned for these community areas as well as other parts of the South Side.[119]

The Spook Who Sat by the Door is a novel and film dealing with the integration of the CIA. The majority of the story takes place on the South Side of Chicago where the sole graduating black cadet is from.[125]

The Boondocks, a comic strip and animated series, stars the Freeman family, who have recently moved from the South Side of Chicago to an affluent suburb.[126]

Iceberg Slim, the author of Pimp, was raised on the South Side of Chicago, which is the setting of most of his stories. He sold over six million books, which were translated, further disseminating his depiction of life of the South Side.[128]

^"Chicago 2016 Venue Plan". Chicago 2016, City of Chicago, Applicant City, 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. January 23, 2007. Archived from the original on February 10, 2007. Retrieved October 17, 2007.

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